Abu Dhabi’s Core42, the artificial intelligence infrastructure subsidiary of G42, has formalized a strategic partnership with Solutions+, a Mubadala Investment Company portfolio firm specializing in AI-driven shared services, to deploy sovereign AI infrastructure at scale across the UAE’s public and private sectors. The deal is not merely a commercial arrangement between two entities operating within Mubadala’s investment portfolio — it represents a deliberate act of sovereign capital allocation designed to consolidate the UAE’s control over the foundational infrastructure layer that will underpin the next wave of economic value creation in the Gulf. By routing enterprise-grade AI compute, sovereign cloud services, and large language model deployment through domestically governed infrastructure, the partnership directly addresses the region’s strategic imperative to keep sensitive data and critical AI workloads within national borders, a constraint that is rapidly becoming a non-negotiable for regulated industries across the GCC.
From a capital formation perspective, this collaboration signals that MENA sovereign investors are transitioning from passive allocators of petrodollar reserves into active architects of domestic technology ecosystems. Mubadala’s decision to deploy capital through both Core42 and Solutions+ — rather than relying on foreign hyperscale providers — reflects a sophisticated bet that the returns on sovereign AI infrastructure, measured in data security, regulatory compliance, and long-term industrial capacity, outweigh the short-term cost efficiency of offshore cloud services. For the venture capital landscape in the region, the partnership creates a de facto procurement channel that will shape which AI startups and enterprise software companies gain access to the UAE’s institutional client base, effectively making Core42 and Solutions+ gatekeepers of a rapidly expanding market estimated in the billions of dollars.
The infrastructure implications extend well beyond the UAE’s borders. As Gulf states compete to establish themselves as AI-first economies, the Mubadala-backed model — combining sovereign compute capacity, government-mandated data residency, and integrated implementation services — offers a replicable blueprint that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other MENA sovereign wealth funds are closely evaluating. The partnership’s explicit ambition to extend engagements to government and private sector organizations across the wider region underscores a recognition that AI sovereignty is not a bilateral concern but a structural shift reshaping the Gulf’s entire digital economy. Companies operating in financial services, healthcare, energy, and logistics across MENA will increasingly find that their ability to deploy AI at enterprise scale is contingent upon access to infrastructure that satisfies both sovereign regulatory frameworks and production-grade performance requirements.
Announced on the sidelines of the Make it in the Emirates initiative, the Core42–Solutions+ agreement reinforces the alignment between Abu Dhabi’s industrial strategy and its AI ambitions. The UAE’s leadership has made clear that digital infrastructure is not a subsidiary policy objective but the central pillar of its post-hydrocarbon economic thesis. For institutional investors and multinational enterprises evaluating exposure to the MENA technology stack, this partnership is a leading indicator: the region is no longer a consumer of foreign AI infrastructure but is actively building its own sovereign supply chain, backed by multi-billion-dollar capital commitments and governed by the same strategic patience that built the Gulf’s energy and financial services empires over the past half century.
